Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Orange with lots of creamy head. Marvellous fruity yeasty aroma with candi, malt, and hops. Good mouthfeel and spices, very drinkable, partcularly with reasonable ABV. Zesty and full mouthfeel, slightly above average carbonation. Somewhat drying finish.Had this a second time a year later and is it my cellaring. Drying there, spiciness, just all together only an average Belg.Averaged the two.

Bottle: Poured a light amber/yellow color ale with a huge foamy head with great retention and good lacing. Aroma of fruit and ester is quite enjoyable with a light spice mix. Taste is a mix between some spices, floral malt and some wheat. Body is a bit thin and alcohol is slightly burning but nothing out of control. I would say hat this tripel is above the middle of the pack but not part of the greatest of the style.

Lightly yeasty tangerine with a spunky sparkle brought about by a generous number of rapidly rising bubble streams. Most tripels aren't this dark (i.e. orange), which makes me wonder about the malt bill. The bone colored cap is large and firm, then becomes softly rocky as it melts. Small spots of suds look like Morse code lace.

The aroma is appropriately tripel-like, although it isn't a humdinger. It smells like something other than the standard five ingredients were used (candi sugar is the fifth). Good-great tripels don't need spices. Let's see how it all plays out on the palate.

Floreffe Triple-Tripel (the label covers both bases) is actually a pretty good version. That said, it's still going to come down to 3.5 versus 4.0 for the all-important flavor score. Hmmm, I wonder if it's coriander... which I usually like in otherwise well-brewed beer.

There just a hint of caramel, which isn't a deal-breaker. Any more and it would be, though. An apricot and peach fruitiness is apparent, as is a little grassy hoppiness. Malt sugars and candi sugar are nicely offset by bitterness and spiciness. What the hell, this is pretty tasty beer in the end.

Even though the mouthfeel isn't the most luxurious that I've ever encountered, it has the expansive light creaminess that all good Belgian ales possess. American brewers could learn a thing or three from that country with respect to mouthfeel and carbonation.

Floreffe Triple-Tripel and Floreffe Prima Melior (a BSDA) are both solid versions of their respective styles. Just because better Belgians are available doesn't mean these ales aren't worth a look. I consider $3.89 for 330 ml money well-spent.

330ml bottle, at 8% ABV, another part of the '1/2 Meter of Beer' mixed pack available here in Alberta.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, medium golden amber hue, with a teeming tower of puffy, rocky, and eventually Dairy Queen creamy opal head, which leaves a proper array of sudsy webbed lace all around the glass as it slowly ebbs away.

The bubbles are pretty well sublimated, barely a wisp of their initial splendour to be found at this mid point in the game, the body just on the lee side of a steady medium weight, and so-so smooth, the yeast and alcohol having their way right now. It finishes still on the sweet side, as things go, the caramel malt, additional sugars - alcohol and otherwise - kind of collaborating on the death knell (to me, at least) of this particular offering.

For the style, this does well enough, I suppose, providing a sweet, yeasty, and above all, boozy sort of experience. However, I am quite on the fence about such a plainly one-sided kind of deal - where be the hops, at least in the basest interest of balance? This comes off as an example of a beer that all the platitudes and pandering in the world wouldn't be able to deter those who think that it's actually all that good of an idea in the first place.

Floreffe TripelAle Brewed with Cane Sugar, 750 ml, caged & corked. 7.5% abv.A Special Reserve Ale exclusively for the use of the abbot and his guests. A rich brown beer seasoned with can sugar, secondary fermentation in this bottle, based on the brewing tradition of Floreffe Abbey, founded in 1121.

Poured into a small Tripel Karmeliet glass.

Hazed golden/orange appearance, high and mighty head, lacey, bone white, with fierce carbonation. Never-ending streams along the glass, racing up to meet the foam.

More citrus in the taste, spices ridge the senses, just ride along the tongue. Light bodied, sweetness defining the flavor. Not too much complexity, but an abundance of delightful sugary sweetness. If that's what you like, this'll turn your crank. I need something a little extra. This would bring joy to many, easy-drinking, light, reminds me of a fruitier white wine, perhaps, would go great with food, makes a nice chaser. But it's not what I want now, not tonight, doesn't tickle those places I like to have tickled...personally, that means hops or booze or big, splashy malt...not just cane sugar.

Large bottle, caged and corked with best before dating on rear label. Pours clear darkish, golden amber, under a super impressive light tan head. head shows loft and puffy softness, then merange, world class/excellent retention, all kinds of lacing, lots of bubbles continue to rise to the top. Very nice. Peppery, powdered sugar and yeasty nose. Tasty tripel, lots of pepper, citric fruit and warming alcohol and spice. Not as complex as other tripels, but definatly well worth a try.

A- This beer has an apricot colored body with a thick creamy head of nice bit of lacing after each sip. There is a sea of tiny bubbles that glide around the body.

S- This beer has a soft candy sugar note to it with a nice green note at the finish.

T- There is a soft sweetness at the beginning that has a light fruity quality to it with a dry pear note to follow. There is a nice bitterness at the finish with a faint tangerine zest to the hop hint. There is a carbonic acid note that is part of the bitterness hint.

M- This beer has a medium light mouthfeel with a faint alcohol heat that comes through as the beer warms.

D- This beer has a smooth soft flavor with some sweetness and some bitterness that balance nicely. This is a well built beer with not a lot of interests.

Pours a haizy, dark maize. One inch head of a white color. Great retention and good lacing. There is also suspended sediment. Smells of yeast, slight wheat, slight sour, slight citrus, hops, sweet malt, and alcohol. Fits the style of a Tripel. Mouth feel is sharp and crisp, with an average carbonation level. Tastes of sweet malt, hint of roasted malt, hops, yeast, slight wheat, slight citrus, and hint of alcohol. Overall, better body and blend, than aroma.

The pour an opalescent orange color, off white head that is impressive is size, foamy in it consistency, and sheets of fine lace to coat the glass. Nose is sweet, banana like, malts, quite pleasant. Front is malt sweet, the top skinny; the finish is potently acidic, passively hopped, with a dry as a bone aftertaste that lingers on. Much better than the "Blonde", more sting to this beer, more flavors to please the palate, and well worth the sample.

Poured from a 750ml bottle into my Koningshoeven goblet, the Floreffe Triple is a clear golden orange with a modest off white head that subsides pretty quickly to a thick skim, leaving pretty heavy foam lace.

At first, the aroma is moderate, grainy with spicy yeast, phenols and a touch of honey. As it warms, it really opens up, gaining a soft, vanilla sweetness and some really enjoyable hefe like esters.

The taste is also a bit subdued, and very similar to the nose...mainly phenols and yeast spice, with a dry, acrid finish that is more boozy then it should be at 7.5%. I fiind it notable that the label states they use cane sugar, rather then the traditional candi sugar, which gains complexity through caramelization and inversion. I think this triple really suffers as a result, lacking depth, pushing towards cidery and a bit sour . Luckily, the graininess is sufficient to keep it from lacking any character. Overall, it comes off a bit harsh, and a bit metallic tasting.

The mouthfeel is sharp, but with a nice level of carbonation.

This is not that great of a triple. If I was doing a bland tasting, I'd guess it was a sub-par attempt by a US micro undereducated in the style. I don't know enough about this brewery, but assuming the label blurb referencing the abbey is indicative of their history, I'll consider it an early rung on the evolutionary ladder of triples, a recipe pre-Jean De Clerck (PJ). Well actually, I think it's the sugar more the yeast at fault here, but pre-PJ had a nice ring to it!

Appearance - Hazy amber/gold colour with a gigantic size frothy and rocky white head. I can see a fair amount of carbonation and there is some fantastic lacing all over the sides of the glass. The head was pretty much fully lasting.

Smell - wheat, cloves, lemons

Taste & Mouth – The beer had an average amount of carbonation and has a nice full bodied taste. I can taste wheat mixed with cloves and some lemons. There are also some fruit esters and a fairly strong yeasty taste. The beer finishes with a yeasty spicy aftertaste.

Overall – Not my favourite tripel by a long shot but it has a few different tastes going on that make it interesting. It also has a really fantastic appearance in the glass. It was pretty easy to drink and actually went down quite fast. The alcohol was hidden well and I’d say that the beer is worth trying.

From the 11.2 flo oz. bottle marked: L20090111-09:27. Sampled on April 10, 2011. It pours a handsome looking deep copper-amber at first but becomes cloudy as the bottle empties. The aroma is powerful with a strong balance of sweet malts and an alcohol scent. A little yeast takes up the rear. The body is thin to medium. The overall taste is also rather sweet with an alcohol kick at the end. Mellow though.

300 mL brown bottle with a best by stamp of L2009 05 10. Pours a hazy dark gold color with a fluffy, off-white foam. Nice retention and lacing.

Nose is honey, candi sugar, touch of lemon and grainy malt. Not really getting a whole lot going on in the nose, but what is there is pleasant.

Taste is much better with a nice, classic tripel flavor of honeyed malt, graininess and a healthy presence of Belgian yeast. Bready and a fair amount of herbal/floral hops. Pretty decent tripel here, well done stylistically.

White and rich hat of foam, compact, but not very linger. Golden colour, with orange reflexes.
The smell is spettacular: very fresh, with field flower, orange flower, honey, quite fruity too, with chewingum notes and some syrup (strawberry? tamarind?).
Taste fruity, orange peel, citron, with a lasting sensation of freshness.
Medium body, good persistence of the aftertaste, with honey, friuts and light notesd of bitter.

Pours a hazy orange-ish / copper color with a fluffy off white head. In the aroma, candy sugar, yeasty, and small traces of fruitiness. In the taste, dry sugar, yeasty, and small hints of fruit, must be from the cane sugar. A smooth and medium bodied mouthfeel, with a dry to sweet sugary fruit in the aftertaste.